{balki Blog}
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Yes, I became a victim husband of another “Sex and the City“-addict wife. Some friend of my wife promptly notified her that her fashion life was incomplete until she watches the entire series of Sex and the City. So, we restarted our Hollywood MVP membership and started checking out the DVDs from the series non-stop.

However, that is where all my problems began… starting from the judgmental stares of the video-store clerk (you see, I have to check out 3 DVDs of Sex and the City at a time, every single night, while Maanasa waits inside the warmth of the air-conditioned car) all the way to carrying that painful guilt of not buying her 400$ shoes. I am not exaggerating when I say, “my travails are endless”.

Some of her most popular after-Sex and the City phrases include:

• I’ll dump you and move to Manhattan
• I deserve a wardrobe with 40,000$ worth of shoes in it
• Manolo Blahniks

She is currently watching the sixth and the final season of the series, and I am hoping to survive this manic frenzy. Are there any more such victims in the Pacific Northwest? Is there a blog? Does Rite-Aid sell SexandTheCity-B-Gone over-the-counter? Prompt feedback is highly appreciated before my credit-card statements start filling up with 965$ Manolo Blahniks.

Technorati : Sex And the City
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I came across this very thought-provoking article by Kristian Dupont Knudsen, while going through my daily dose of e-newsletters.
Kristian ruthlessly decimated several of the long-established programming practices that we have come to love and hate over the centuries. His top 10 list of Programming Advice **NOT** to follow includes such all-time favorites like “Design First, Then Code”, “Use accessors or properties rather than public fields”, “Write lots of comments” and “Don’t use exceptions”. A must read for anyone who has lots of time to analyze Kristian’s justification for each of the items and then debate the same at the local Geeks-R-Us chapter meeting.

Technorati : programming advice
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I came across this very interesting article on Personal Tech Pipeline. Apparently LAPD is deploying a system that will outfit their cop cars with a device that propels and sticks a Global Positioning System (GPS) onto a fleeing car. The cops can then track the suspect car using a remote navigation system, instead of risking civilian safety by pursuing high-speed chases. A company called StarChase is developing this system. Watch their proof-of-concept video footage for more details on the innovating idea.

Check out the full article here: http://www.personaltechpipeline.com/news/178601976

Technorati : GPS dart, StarChase
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We drove to USS Arizona Memorial on Pearl Harbor (I lost the way again, wasting more than an hour wandering in Honolulu); spent a couple hours exploring the museum and the memorial. I have to say it was a pretty solemn feeling when I heard that the bodies of some of the soliders were never recovered from the ship that sunk in 1941.

From the memorial we drove to Diamond Head and hiked up to the 760-ft summit of the crater wall. In spite of the arduous hike up to the summit, we were thrilled with the marvelous views of Waikiki beach (not to mention the much-needed exercise) from the top of the crater wall. We took lots of pictures, and each one of them came out better than the previous!

Then we made a quick stop at Hanauma Bay - the bay was very picturesque but it was closing time so we did not get into the water. We were quite impressed by the solid efforts by the Friends of Hanauma Bay in preserving the marine life in the bay.

We relaxed in the hotel for a while and then walked for several hours on the Waikiki beach looking at the people, shops, restaurants and resorts. We ate delicious dinner at the Waikiki Cheesecake Factory (all the people that recommended the Avocado Egg rolls were definitely right on!)

There were hundreds of shopping places all along the beach, ranging from tiny stands/carts to chic retail outlets selling 20000$ Rolex watches. I never saw so many stores in one location any where else: there were stores along the street, on the curb, inside the alleys, and inside the resort hotels!

Activities: Pearl Harbor, hike up to Diamond Head summit, Hanauma Bay

Drink of the day: Mojito

• 1.5 oz BACARDI Rum
• 12 fresh spearmint leaves
• 1/2 lime
• 7 oz club soda
• 2 tbsp. simple syrup (or 4 tsp. sugar)

For the smoothest mojitos, gently crush mint leaves and lightly squeeze lime in a cool tall glass. Pour sweet syrup on top to cover and fill glass with ice. Add Rum, club soda, and stir your emerging mojito well. Garnish with a lime wedge and a few sprigs of mint.

Word of the day: Lua pele (Volcano)

Tip(s) of the day:

1. Shop at the International Marketplace (right along the Waikiki beach); the products are good and prices are cheap. Don’t forget to start your bargaining at 20-25% of the asking price!!! (BTW, I did not buy any of the souvenir gifts here; I buy all my souvenir gifts at the chic high-end retail stores I mentioned in the post)
2. Definitely take the hike up to the Diamond Head crater summit. It will take you about 1.5 hours round-trip and it is totally worth it. You can get some outstanding sweeping views of the Waikiki Beach area.

Technorati : Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay, Waikiki International Market
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We took the early flight out to Oahu and reached Honolulu airport by 10am. Since we could not check-in to the hotel room at that time, we decided to drive straight to Dole Plantation. The plantation was thriving but it was way too commercialized. The retail store was selling Dole-branded t-shirts, key chains, and coffee mugs like crazy and it is going through a huge expansion! We hardly saw any “plantation” stuff. Either way, we took the 20-minute train ride around the plantation. Later, I finished the world’s longest maze puzzle in 19 minutes (current record: 7 minutes). We also did the Garden Tour (that’s 45-minutes of my life I am never getting back )

As we drove towards the Polynesian Cultural Center situated on the northeast corner of the island, we passed the legendary North Shore beaches which were truly an amazing sight! There were numerous beautiful sandy beaches filled with surfers. We saw some huge surf waves (but none of them reached the celebrated heights of 35-feet)

We reached the Polynesian Cultural Center around 3pm; I really liked the interesting way the non-profit organization is presenting & preserving the south pacific island culture there. In a nutshell the Center features the people & culture of 7 islands: Hawaii, Samoa, Maori New Zealand (Aotearoa), Fiji, Tahiti, the Marquesas and Tonga. I really loved the place (Maanasa was not that impressed) but we had to skip the grand finale show “Horizons: Where the Sea Meets the Sky” (that would have lasted until 9pm) because we wanted to get back to the hotel and rest for a while.

Activities: Dole Plantation, Polynesian Cultural Center, North Shore beaches

Drink of the day: None

Word of the day: Ali’i (king/royal)

Tips of the day:

1. Plan to spend the whole day the Polynesian Cultural Center (especially if you enjoy learning the various cultures of the 7 featured countries); I felt like we rushed through different islands and we missed the featured presentations for most of them.

2. Carry (or rent) a GPS if you want to drive in Oahu; the highways/roads are very confusing and the drivers are way too rash compared to Oregon! I’ve been so spoiled with my GPS for the last couple years that I wasted at least 3 hours looking for places today. (I carried my GPS but messed up the process of synching the maps, so my Garmin iQUE 3600 GPS ended up with just the US base map, which was worthless with my crappy driving skills)

Technorati : Dole Plantation, North Shore, Polynesian Cultural Center
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